I seem to be leaning towards Florida as a setting for the Fallout based campaign that I am never going to run.

Ideas that are currently being explored: PlacesGibsonton - a wintering and retirement town for circus freaks. A mix of mutants, humans, ghouls, and even a few Super Mutants. Seedy, unscrupulous, but non violent. Wintering ground for the Gypsies, too. A permanent Carnival is set up outsise of the town proper.Cape Canaveral - Gateway to Space (Most likely still called Cape Kennedy in the Fallout Universe, I think). Something that is not quite Disneyworld (Controlled by the Enclave, maybe?)Palm Beach - Florida's Ghoul Central.

Factions:Gypsy clan (Merino? Lowara? Need to do more research as to what clans were in the area, ca. 1950.)EnclaveBrotherhood (Lyons faction)Brotherhood (Outcast faction)Various RaidersVaultGibsonton

Qualities:GrittyFragile Minds (Fallout 3 confirms the existence of the Mythos in the Fallout universe. )Cash & CarryLootHistoric (Retro Future is still Retro....)ParanoidSeason 1 is likely to be Freelance, while strong relations can lead to a Hybrid structure.

Anyway, to bed now, Dr. Pepper running out....

The Auld Grump, who has been looking for an excuse to use Gibsonton for about 10 years....

I see the Brotherhood only having a minimal presence in Florida, if they really have one. I don't think the split in the DC wasteland would get that far south. A squad or three sweeping for tech perhaps. Since Florida seems to have some shipbuilding, the Enclave may have an interest in the area.

Yep - Kennedy Space Center is the primary interest of both Enclave and Brotherhood. Both sides have sent scouting parties, some of the Brotherhood groups have come back. The Enclave has been having bad luck with its Vertibirds.... (Too bad they have not tried approaching on foot.) The Brotherhood doesn't talk about what they have seen to outsiders, but they are being cautious in all approaches. One of the main reasons I decided on Florida - the mission is not going to be showing up 'til the very end of Season 1.

Reasons may include an unlaunched rocket that is precoded to rendezvous with a semi-operational space station. (Most likely the classic 'wheel' design of 1950s science fiction. Theoretically unoccupied....

As for why the Lyons faction... I just like Lyons better - the Brotherhood has been gathering information for two hundred years, don't you think it is time to do something?

Places bombed... Yeah, Miami gets it. Jacktown. Palm Springs catches a stray. St. Petersburg. Both these last become Ghoul spawning pits, most feral, but some of the more civilized variety have set up small camps, and have resettled a big chunk of Palm Springs.

Orlando becomes the Enclaves main holding - primarily because the thought of The Guns of Navarone playing out on Space Mountain amuses me.

I have other plans for the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. One possibility as to why Kennedy didn't get nuked is that the missiles got shot down. From above....

Critters: Radscorions (Florida does have scorpions, but to be honest the bark scorpions they have are less threatening than bees. I may do non-lethal radscorpions with an impressive threat display. ) Incidentally, scorpions glow under black light - I have no idea what I am going to do with this fact McNugget.

Mirelurks and Giant Grabs. (Crabbing is a way of life in some areas of Florida, I gather.)

Jumbo Shrimp! (In memory of George Carlin.) Purely a water hazard.

Crockagators (in the ruined sewers of Miami there are blind albino crockagators).

Deathclaws are blessedly rare - too damp for them it seems.

Giant Radroaches. I mean big. Really big. Some of them spit. (You can tell what I can remember from my one trip to Florida as a small child, eh?) Bloatflies, there are always bloatflies. Giant mosquitoes - bigger than the ones you really get in Florida I mean. Maybe firebreathing dragonflies, maybe radioactive fireflies with an attack similar to a Glowing One - but used primarily as a mating signal.

Ok, major threats/wildlife in the florida region that could be useful:

The Cuban Brown Anole which is a cousin to the green anole (a lizard that changes colors like a chameleon) There are tons of them, and they are pretty sturdy buggars, I could see some giant raptor esque chameleon guys for you to use.Edit: Here is a picture of a smallish one

(click to show/hide)

The Osprey - Fishing eagle w/6 ft roughly wingspan. Them or the bald eagle are rather common.

Wild Boar, Black Bear, American Alligator, American Crocodile, Rattlesnakes, Alligator Gar, Manatee instead of Brahman?, armadillos, cougar. These are all pretty common in the everglades/foresty areas inland Florida.

As for locations of vaults, I could definitely see them turning a city called Palatka into a Vault or at least survivor outpost. It's right near the St. Johns river and Lake George, features a giant bridge and is rather centrally located.

If you wanted a more tropical feel, you could make a vault in the keys somewhere, as it is geographically located.

I have grandparents down there and visit them pretty often so I have a good idea of the inland feel of the place.

Oh, and for a fun beach monster, there are these things called Sand fleas or Mole Crabs. I could definitely see them getting all monstery and bursting up out of the sand eating seagulls to change the whole food chain on the beach.

Ok, major threats/wildlife in the florida region that could be useful:

The Cuban Brown Anole which is a cousin to the green anole (a lizard that changes colors like a chameleon) There are tons of them, and they are pretty sturdy buggars, I could see some giant raptor esque chameleon guys for you to use.Edit: Here is a picture of a smallish one

(click to show/hide)

The Osprey - Fishing eagle w/6 ft roughly wingspan. Them or the bald eagle are rather common.

Wild Boar, Black Bear, American Alligator, American Crocodile, Rattlesnakes, Alligator Gar, Manatee instead of Brahman?, armadillos, cougar. These are all pretty common in the everglades/foresty areas inland Florida.

As for locations of vaults, I could definitely see them turning a city called Palatka into a Vault or at least survivor outpost. It's right near the St. Johns river and Lake George, features a giant bridge and is rather centrally located.

If you wanted a more tropical feel, you could make a vault in the keys somewhere, as it is geographically located.

I have grandparents down there and visit them pretty often so I have a good idea of the inland feel of the place.

Oh, and for a fun beach monster, there are these things called Sand fleas or Mole Crabs. I could definitely see them getting all monstery and bursting up out of the sand eating seagulls to change the whole food chain on the beach.

(click to show/hide)

Oooohh! Consider the Mole Crab yoinked! Ambush Mirelurks!

And would you believe that I completely forgot about the Keys? What the heck? Them's adventure just waiting to happen! I foresee a piratical vault or some such in my future. (Not to mention five Avengers... closer to Spielberg than reality though.)

Thanks, ever so! This is a prime example of why I ask these questions.

The Auld Grump, who has used up his exclamation point quota for this post.

More Factions:CommonwealthWastelander (various communities)MasonsSociety of Jesus (the Jesuits) (These last two are to add a touch of conspiracy.)

I am thinking about tying starting classes to faction to a certain extent - Explorer and Scout seem unlikely for a Vault Dweller, for example....

And a minor question: Does anyone have the GW plastic Ogre figures? How easy would it be to turn them into Super Mutants? I had considered Ogryns, but they look too, well, way too pricey. ($20 a figure?!!!!)

We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. - Werner von BraunRight now you have no idea how lucky you are that I am not a sociopath. - A sign seen above my desk.There's no upside in screwing with things you can't explain. - Captain Roy Montgomery

I was eating lunch before today's game, when I remembered a scenario I did way back in the dawn of RPGs, in this case Gamma World. (Later it was actually run under Aftermath.)

The basis: When I was an even younger tyke than when I came up with the scenario there was an urban legend that Walt Disney was being held in cryogenic suspension, so I decided to weave that in for a California based game, in a scenario that I will now title 'Disney on Ice!' His body will have been moved from Disney Land to the maintenance tunnels below Disney World. Alas, Walt would not have survived the process of being thawed, but due to a containment failure at the nuclear plant Walt's body has been subjected with enough radiation to trigger the Ghoul transformation.

Mind you, he is still frozen as a T.V. dinner.... Weird how things come back to you, sometimes.

So, Enclave holds Space Mountain, but is unaware of the sprawling tunnels that have become home to a substantial ghoul population. (In the real world they are pretty darned impressive.) Ferals may well inhabit the Haunted Mansion.

And on a separate note, there is one bit of rules that I will need to mull over, and perhaps someone can help with this.

The economy of the Fallout world is not based on manufacture, but rather on salvage. How best to emulate this? Do I keep careful track of every bullet, gun, and tin can that the team finds, or streamline it with a hand wave? Or, something else?

I would be inclined to hand wave it more than not. Brass can be reloaded a few times, and the makings of powder are not that difficult. Organizations like the Brotherhood, Enclave, and Vaults can definitely be making new ammunition.

It should be scarce enough that the PCs don't feel comfortable wasting it, but not so rare that it fouls the game. A vague idea of the general scarcity should be enough.